Construction & Demolition Debris

The OEC helped shape that historic upgrade to the state laws controlling the safe disposal of the leading type of out-of-state waste: construction and demolition debris.

Ohio is one of the few states that treat construction and demolition debris differently than mixed municipal waste. Lawmakers historically have accepted the notion that CDD waste is inert and poses no threat to groundwater or land, even though government and university studies have confirmed that dangerous chemicals can be present in CDD waste or CDD waste leachate (a solution containing contaminants picked up through the leaching of soil) .

According to Ohio EPA’s June 12, 2009 report, Evaluation of Leachate from Ohio’s Construction and Demolition Debris Landfills, the agency concluded that:

"Leachate from Ohio CDD landfills pose a threat to public health and the environment if released to groundwater or surface water.” (emphasis added)

After years of landfill industry rhetoric, sound science has disproved and discredited the notion that CDD landfills pose no risk to Ohio’s groundwater quality. Ohio EPA’s own experts issued the definitive statement that:

“The wide variety of parameters detected in CDD leachate, the wide variety in the number of parameters that exceed health based standards and surface water quality standards in CDD leachate and the magnitude of the exceedences are evidence that CDD is not harmless or inert.” (emphasis added)

Ohio EPA’s own scientific reports have revealed CDD facilities as profoundly dangerous to the health of Ohioans, and soundly disproved the claims of industry and trade associations in the build up to passage of House Bill 397.

OEC, led the charge in the legislature last decade, and continues that work fighting to make sure that Ohio EPA regulations keep landfill communities and Ohio’s groundwater safe.